Archaeology: Italian mission discovers Luxor necropolis

Amenhotep II temple found, says mission head

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JANUARY 10 - Life-long archaeologist
Angelo Sesana, now head of the mission carrying out excavations
on the western bank of the Nile in Luxor, says with unabashed
excitement that ''it moves you like little else to bring back to
life someone who sought immortality 4,000 years ago.''
The mission is being conducted by the Centre of Egyptology
Francesco Ballerini (CEFB) in the Egyptian city best known for
the Valley of the Kings and in the area corresponding to the
temple of the Pharaoh Amenhotep II, who reigned during the 18th
dynasty (1427-1401 B.C.). Today the Egyptian Ministry of
Antiquities announced that his mission had found a necropolis
and a group of canopy vases, in which the mummified innards of
the dead were kept. The finds are in perfect condition. Sesana's
excavations have been underway for the past fifteen years and
have proved very fortunate, as the archaeologist and orientalist
admits.
''When we began digging, the area was only a mound of debris.

We were in no way certain of what we would find. We only knew
that, according to information provided by archaeologists at the
end of the 1800s, the temple of Amenhotep II, son of Thutmosi
III, was there,'' Sesana said, noting that in the
12-kilometre-square area, the last to ''scratch'' - and not
conduct serious excavations with modern-day scientific methods -
was the British archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

His excavations date back to 1894-1895. ''Since then no one else
has carried out excavations,'' noted the archaeologist, saying
that the mission's activities include cleaning up the area,
excavating and drawing up a planimetry of the area in which
necropolises have surfaced from a number of eras, even ones
before the pharaoh's temple was built.

Sesana's mission brought to light burials from the Middle
Kingdom (1800 B.C.) through the Third Intermediate Period
(1000-700 B.C.) to the Ptolemaic Era. The canopy vases are
thought to have come from the tomb of a woman. They date back to
the period between 1075 and 664 B.C. and, Sesana notes, were
laid out in the manner of two on one side and two on the other
of the burial, inside of which a sarcophagus and skeleton were
found. The archaeologist said that they were unidentified. ''But
another time, and it was such a strong emotion that I began
jumping up and down, I found canopy vases with the inscription
of the name of the dead. It was the same name as that of a
sarcophagus I had identified six years before.''
''This year has been one of incredibly great finds. Five
days ago we found the tomb of a child, with a small sarcophagus
in terracotta and stupendous tableware, bowls and plates. It
dates back to the Middle Kingdom, 1800 B.C. Another unique find
was the monumental ramp that we are in the process of
consolidating. It is grandiose, spectacular,'' said Sesana, who
will tomorrow be going back to Italy. But he will be coming back
again to Luxor and its temple to be discovered. (ANSAmed).